Adrian Paul, an orc from Weta, Stan Lee and Kevin Sorbo were some of the attractions at Salt Lake Comic Con 2013

Walt's INspirations for EPCOT and what happened

As Walt started looking for inspiration on how to solve the ills of the city, he found Ada Louise Huxtable and Ebenezer Howard. He also found Victor Gruen. “Walt fell in love with him,” says Anderson. Walt believed that he would need to start from scratch. That is what the land in Florida was supposed to become – a city where people would live and work. People would have to drive through EPCOT to get to the theme park. “Walt thought that people were good,” says Anderson. “If you could show them a better way, they would buy into it. Much like the Disneyland hub, EPCOT was designed in a wheel form. “John Hench once told me that Walt thought everything could be solved by the wheel,” says Anderson. For EPCOT, “transportation is the key,” says Anderson. Cars would drive one level below the city while larger vehicles would drive on the third level. “’The pedestrian is king,’ Walt says,” says Anderson. Walt described his vision for EPCOT to his Brother Roy while lying on a hospital bed. The next day, Walt was dead. “They were all stunned,” says Anderson. There was no one left to carry the torch for Walt’s original idea. Plans were scrapped as Roy built the Magic Kingdom, and EPCOT became a kind of world’s fair. Even with drawings of the EPCOT Energy building and the Airport of Tomorrow, the company couldn’t assume the risks associated with a city. According to Anderson, the life of Walt Disney teaches us, if nothing else, that it takes just one person, for good or for evil, to completely alter history.